Not sure if it’s been covered or not…
I just set up some SML. coffee cruzers (83 I think) with new Bones Reds. I like to tighten the nut so there’s a little wiggle room for the wheel, you know, normal shit. I have washers on both sides with no spacers in the middle of the bearings.
I’ve noticed that as soon as I skate the board for a second the wiggle room has completely gone away. Wheel still spins fine but no movement side to side from the wheel. Are the bearings moving because of heat or something?? It’s tripping me the fuck out. I thought that it might be the bearings have time to set into the wheel but it’s been doing this for ages. My other 2 set ups don’t do this, one with big balls with spacers in the middle and one with modus with no spacers. This morning I loosened the fuxk out of the nuts so there was a ton of room to move the wheels side to side and straight away, no movement! My madness is kick the fuxk in! Lol help. It’s probably something very simple and I’m a straight up nob end
Bearings do move a lot more in some wheels compared to others.
I used to have a set of slightly softer wheels of a known "good quality" brand (no not Bones or Spitfires) that I would always have to constantly push and pull after each run as the bearings would come out of the bearing seat when I would do things that make the wheels have a sideways pressure, like smith grinds or even just a 180 on flat sliding the board around.
Some brands seem to have this more than others, or softer wheels without the harder core (and even some with) if the core does not hold the bearing in tightly.
End of the day, I got used to it, but it did drive me nuts so was happy to get off those wheels and on to something else that didn't have that issue.
If the bearings push in and pull out of the wheels too easily, you are going to have this issue for the life of the wheels, or even more so as they get older, but some combinations of bearing and wheel will also do this more or less than others, even though the bearings and wheels are supposed to have the exact same dimensions.
If you put the board on its axles, stand with both feet sort of on or around the wheel that is on the ground and pull up and push down on the upper end wheel of the same axle, feel if they pop back in a bit, often hearing a pop or click sound, and you will know they are moving or not. Do this to both axles, then turn the board over and repeat. This is what I used to have to do.
There is not really any solution, besides putting in spacers and running things a bit tighter, so there is no bearing movement, but often that will result in the board sounding dead or hollow, which can be off putting too. If they don't tighten right down without the bearings stopping spinning, put a washer in with the spacer (on the inside) which gives a touch more clearance and frees up the bearings, but will still have a dead sound, unless the bearings are raw or dry.
Topic: Wheels Thread (Read 797915 times)